A few months ago I began working on a back yard deck for a friend of a friend. Things began normally, removing the old deck was easy, and the first weekend beginning the work of the new deck went well. but after weekend three and four, then five it began to weigh on me that the progress and cost was greater than anticipated. 
I found that I had miscalculated how much material I would need and the project was taking more time than I thought it would take. Inside I had to deal with the struggle of wanting to do a good job because this was a friend of a friend of mine, and the reflection of my work upon who I am as a person. However the thoughts and feelings did not make the project go any quicker or easier.
I had to evaluate where my priorities were and decide what was more important, giving up or loosing a little money to keep the reputation that my name carries. The struggle was difficult to overcome, I wanted to give up and quit, but somehow I got through and kept showing up to work a little more on the project.
What were the costs? Time, Effort, Energy, Patience, Money, giving up the opportunity to do other things, but was it worth it? Maybe,? I’m not sure, how do we decide if the challenges and struggles are worth the effort we put forth?
Sometimes at the end of a project we will not know whether it was worth it or not, but what we know is how our heart was, did we live up to our character and who we are? Did we work diligently and with honesty and integrity in the quality of our workmanship? I finished the project and forgot to take a picture the last weekend I worked, but in my heart I know that I put forth my best effort even through the struggle and even though I had its costs, somehow I have to trust that it also had its rewards.
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